


Extra Peppers, Please

by diprotodontia



Category: Preacher (TV)
Genre: Dating, Fluff, M/M, Pizza Date, Romantic Fluff
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-06-17
Updated: 2018-06-17
Packaged: 2019-05-24 08:00:27
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,213
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/14950745
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/diprotodontia/pseuds/diprotodontia
Summary: Very quick and directionless Jessidy fluff to console a friend who read some unsolicited sad Jessidy and needed a pick-me-up. Cassidy finds out about a restaurant that Jesse NEEDS to know about. As long as you don't call it a date maybe you get to hold onto the pretense of heterosexuality a little longer.





	Extra Peppers, Please

“Yeh mean to tell me yeh've been livin' here yer whole life--”

“Not my whole life, Cassidy, I was gone for--”

“Yeah yeah, whatever. But yeh've been here long enough that you should've known.”

The preacher picked up his pace to try to keep up with the vampire's long strides. The sun had only been down for a half hour or so and the shadows were confusing and varied. Jesse almost tripped over a chunk of missing cement in the sidewalk, camouflaged by a large tree half grown out of someone's yard. Cassidy moved with purpose, his stride awkward but strangely balanced. 

“I guess I'm just not a pizza person, Cass, I don't know,” Jesse replied, his voice patient but amused. You could hear the smile on his face. Cassidy huffed a little from a couple feet ahead.

“That's 'cause yeh've never had any good pizza, and I've lived in the pizza capital of the world--”

“You lived in Italy?”

“Er, no. Brooklyn. But let me tell yeh, Padre, this place is jes as good if not better than any I had there. Yeh're gonna lose your goddamn mind.”

When they got to the entrance of the little shop, Jesse wondered how Cassidy had even found the place. No wonder he had no idea it existed, it was barely a storefront, just a glass door, faintly illuminated by the glow of fluorescent lights inside. It was in what looked like the side of an apartment building, or an office building, or something nondescript and brick sided and weather beaten. He had to admit, though, that the smells that drifted out when Cassidy pulled the door open – bell ringing harshly against the glass – were heavenly. 

“Anthony!” Cassidy practically yodeled at the middle aged man behind the counter. A couple seated at a small table near the back of the narrow space looked up at him, startled by the sudden outburst. “I hope yeh've got that order of peppers in because I'm bloody starvin'.”

The man – Anthony, apparently – rolled his eyes, but a smile tugged at the corners of his mouth. He put the ball of dough he had been massaging on a floured surface in front of him and brushed his hands off, saddling up to the counter and register. Cassidy flourished a roll of cash from his pocket, eliciting a strange noise and furrowed eyebrows from Jesse. 

“Where did you get all of that?” the preacher hissed, but Cassidy waved him off.

“Four thin crust, one with pineapples, mushrooms, hot peppers – extra for real this time, mate, I'll pay for it – and pepperoni. One with as much ham on it as you can and still have the pizza bake properly, aye? And what do you want, Jess?” He raised an eyebrow at him quizzically.

“Wha- shit, I don't know. Pepperoni?” 

Cassidy looked a little put out but just shrugged and turned back to face Anthony. “Well, yeh heard the man.” 

After paying – and it wasn't as much as Jesse had feared it would be, though still more than he thought Cassidy could have on his person at any one time without blowing it on some substance or another – Cassidy dragged them over to a wobbly table in the corner, pulling the chair back for Jesse with a screech of metal on old tile. He sat down himself and folded his hands in front of him, looking not unlike a kid waiting on a coveted birthday present. 

“Cass, I appreciate it, but I really am not crazy about pizza.” 

“I've never heard of such a thing, so I'm gonna just assume yeh're full of shite.”

It didn't take long for Anthony to arrive with a serving tray and four truly enormous pizzas. Cassidy's face brightened up so much that Jesse couldn't help but get a bit amped up too. The steam rising off of the food made the preacher's vision a little hazy. A couple of scratched up white plates were shoved in front of them and Anthony departed wordlessly, offering the two men a slight nod before he turned to leave.

The vampire wasted exactly no time lifting a piece of extremely ham filled pizza from the tray and up to his mouth. Jesse gaped at him, sure that he had just seen the cheese boil a little. Little chunks of ham fell onto the plate under him but he managed to take a large mouthful and start chewing blissfully. Jesse's face morphed into concern and incredulity as Cassidy scarfed the first piece down and reached for a second. 

“Wha?” the vampire asked between slices, cocking his head a little bit like a confused dog. His voice was slightly muffled by the large piece of crust he'd jammed in his mouth moments ago. 

“Aren't you burning your mouth?!”

“Oh, aye.” Cassidy swallowed. “'Tis worth it tho, doesn't last long.”

Jesse waited a while longer for the pizza to look a little less like molten lava and gingerly lifted his own very cheesy, very pepperoni loaded slice onto his plate. He considered cutting it like he tended to do, but thought Cassidy would give him endless shit for it and it wasn't worth it at all. It took him a few chews to register, but he was surprised to find that actually, yes, this was unusually good. The best he'd ever had in fact. Cassidy had stopped eating and was grinning at him from across the table.

“So? What yeh tink?”

The preacher actually fluttered his eyelids a couple of times, his face resigned. “It's... actually pretty good, Cass.”

“It's more'n pretty good'n yeh know it, I can tell.”

Jesse chuckled a little, bringing the slice back up to his mouth. How did he live here so long without knowing this was a thing? Cassidy's ability to draw out unexpected goodness from his life marveled him. He probably could've gone his whole life and not enjoyed this, both the pizza and Cassidy's brightness across from him, acting like sitting in a dirty hole in the wall pizza joint with him was a euphoric experience. 

“Yeah, it's fucking perfect.” He admitted, and the two ate in companionable silence for a while, punctuated only by Cassidy shaking an uncomfortable amount of pepper flakes on his already pepper-laden pizza. 

Jesse managed half a pie while Cassidy devoured both of his and even tried to weasel a slice of Jesse's, though he threatened to take shove a fork in his hand if he tried. Rather than be offended, Cassidy was delighted that the preacher enjoyed himself enough that he wasn't willing to give any up. 

The vampire insisted on carrying the take out boxes for Jesse as they walked back in the cooling night air toward Jesse's truck. 

“I'm glad yeh liked it, Jes, now you can take Tulip here'n show her, too.” 

Jesse considered for a moment, listening to their shoes shuffle against the concrete and gravel. 

“Nah, I think I'll keep it between us for now,” he replied. “If Tulip finds out she'll make me go broke.” And it's kind of nice having somewhere special that only we know about, Jesse thought but didn't voice. Cassidy's humor-filled smile down at him made him feel that maybe he wasn't the only one that felt that way, though.


End file.
